Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Sometimes it seems that nastiness is everywhere --the thing that everyone is feeding on . It may fill the air at your school, but don't let it get to you. Resist it . It's baby food and baby stuff! Shakespeare's point in Macbeth ( that great play about all things nasty ) is that the common reaction ie "being nice " is no answer either - infact such comfort food often fuels the risk of more provokation. ( its a Big story too big to deal with here) . The best way to see Nice VS Nasty in that story is to study the 2 lead characters; the mum and dad elements . Mum is strong, Dad is weak . She's ( strong) nasty. He's weak (a woose) . And she rightly says about Him that he's filled with the milk of human kindness.(TMOHK) Sounds cruel, but its true. He's hiding from grown up stuff, and he's weak .Not all "kindness" works for good .Google "the best intentions" for eg . The best way to deal with those who act tough is to be tough yourself ; not in the same way, but tough none the less . Weak reactions are for those who don't want to grow up .Shakespeare's point about THE OTHER milk - the one that seems so WEAK .( in Macbeth) is that TMOHK "it's not enough" either. Neither is "mettle" A sort of toughness . Mere "toughness"is not enough. Like your DNA the sequences have no final merit one way or other. Enjoy the play by clicking on the above link . Lady Macbeth is the symbol of toughness. Toughness can be a good thing-- after all... hubby is weak !We need to be smart; If you are provoked and you respond naturally things will escalate ; Mere revenge is meagre , ineffective, inflammmatory and unending . No, if you want to keep your family and your friendships going, you need to go past the milk of human kindness to kindness itself . Lady Macbeth described a kind of "kindness" thats just not tough enough. She spoke of "kindness" in that play in a way which spoke to her husbands real and woosy weakness (The milky natural kind) . Kindness can be weakness. There is a kind of kindness that needs an "illness" to " fix it". A kindness that kills Try the kindness that's truly tough - the hard kind. The love genuine kind . Speak the truth in love and take the scouling air and sarcasm and bury it-otherwise you will run the risk of just passing the problem on. The most amazing thing is that by NOT doing what comes naturally , the most impossible things can happen (Impossible Love) Enjoy this real life , rough and tough play in the same way as they did in the 17century - as ane example of ourselves at our worst!!!! -Behaving like little children Copyright EA